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Darke Destroyer
Darke Destroyer was the name given to two robots that entered in Series 3 and Series 4 of Robot Wars. The robots were named after the Darke family, primarily team captain Rob and his son Chris, who drove the robot. Darke Destroyer reached the Heat Final in Series 3 where it lost to Gravedigger, whilst the second iteration Darke Destroyer 2 lost in the second round of Series 4 to Kronic the Wedgehog. Versions of Darke Destroyer The Darke Destroyer (Series 3) The Darke Destroyer, alternatively just Darke Destroyer, was a reverse wedge-shaped robot. Its front wheel, located under the robot's head, steered the robot and was powered by a car window motor. The steering wheel gave the impression that The Darke Destroyer's head moved to look where it was turning. The three smaller rear wheels were powered by a golf caddy. The method of steering gave The Darke Destroyer a turning circle of five feet. The primary weapon of The Darke Destroyer was a large, four-piece lawnmower blade mounted on the wedge. The blade was powered by a Mini starter motor, the third of three electric motors that made up the robot. At high speed impact, the blade compressed (pushing the four blades together to essentially become two-bladed, as two sat on top of each other). All up the robot only weighed 66kg, one of the lighter robots in The Third Wars. Darke Destroyer 2 (Series 4) Darke Destroyer 2 (styled as Darke Destroyer II) featured a steeper and more narrow wedge than its predecessor. The wedge now tapered to a point which had only 4mm ground clearance on the floor, as opposed to the higher ground clearance of its predecessor. This allowed the now bladeless Darke Destroyer 2 to use the wedge to overturn opponents, rather than as a mount. It retained the front wheel, but could no longer turn its "head". Darke Destroyer 2's body was made of a combination of steel, aluminium and wood, and overall the robot gained 11kg to 77kg in total. The immobile front of the robot was a bulldozer scoop (incorporating Darke Destroyer's trademark face) with ramming spikes, and triangular mounts on the robot's sides also tapered into spikes for glancing blows. It was notably faster and had better pushing power than its predecessor. Darke Destroyer 2's most notable trademark was its "wagglers" - small axes fired by springs and powered by electric motors mounted on either side of the robot's ramming scoop. They had low attack range but operated at a high speed. Like Pitbull in the previous series, Darke Destroyer 2 had "PTO" written on its underbelly. Robot History Series 3 Ground clearance hindered the battle between The Darke Destroyer and Sgt. Meikle; the latter's spike was too low to attack The Darke Destroyer's body, and the awkward angle and higher ground clearance of The Darke Destroyer made it difficult to land blows on Sgt. Meikle. The Darke Destroyer drove in circles around Sgt. Meikle, its blade gouging the armour of its opponent but not creating terminal damage. Sgt. Meikle's axe was unable to cause any damage to The Darke Destroyer's top. At several points of impact, Rob Darke claimed that he halted The Darke Destroyer's blade to prevent the blade from breaking, later spinning the blade up to speed once The Darke Destroyer pulled away. By the end of the battle, however, the repeated impacts had caused The Darke Destroyer's blade to compress. The judges decided the battle, and put The Darke Destroyer through. The Darke Destroyer was repaired for its second-round battle with T 2, but was pushed around the arena in the opening stages of the battle, and left it in the clutches of Dead Metal. After taking damage from Dead Metal's saw, The Darke Destroyer escaped and landed glancing blows, but was pushed back towards Shunt by T 2. T 2 drove into a flame jet and both robots escaped. Another clash caused the blade to buckle T 2's front ram, and other blows landed on the side and wheels. T 2 pushed into The Darke Destroyer, raising its own front off the ground, but its rear-mounted wheels allowed it to push The Darke Destroyer into the side walls and almost overturn its opponent. When this failed, T 2 pulled away, only just escaped Dead Metal, and pushed The Darke Destroyer around, taking one blow that caused it to jump slightly. When cease was called, a split decision put The Darke Destroyer through, prompting some boos from the audience. In the Heat Final, The Darke Destroyer fought Gravedigger, who had defeated heat favourites Mortis in the previous round. Gravedigger and The Darke Destroyer became wedged together early on, Gravedigger's flipping arm unable to gain purchase and The Darke Destroyer's blade scratched at its paint. A second clash saw more scratches, with Gravedigger unable to bring its wedge into play. Gravedigger was able to push The Darke Destroyer into the flame pit and into the claws of Dead Metal, from whom The Darke Destroyer escaped after taking a severe cut. After several more attempts, Gravedigger finally brought its wedge into play and threw The Darke Destroyer, but The Darke Destroyer landed on its wheels. Pushing The Darke Destroyer around in the arena, an arena spike was ultimately the cause of The Darke Destroyer's downfall, flipping the robot onto its back as Gravedigger pushed it into Shunt. Shunt attacked its underbelly, and Dead Metal sliced into the bodywork once more. Series 4 Darke Destroyer had plans for revenge in this Series, as they had once again been placed in the same Heat as Gravedigger. However, Gravedigger had already been eliminated. In the first round melee, it faced Dreadnaut XP-1 and Warhog. Darke Destroyer 2 rammed Dreadnaut XP-1, but was unable to push it further or bring its wagglers into play. A glancing blow with its wedge against Warhog caused it to spin away. Warhog later broke down and was placed on the floor flipper, but Darke Destroyer 2 rammed the immobile robot free at the last second and pushed it into the side wall instead. The battle ended and Warhog was eliminated. This brought Darke Destroyer 2 up against one of the robots who had denied it the chance to get revenge on Gravedigger, Kronic the Wedgehog. Darke Destroyer 2 was able to push Kronic the Wedgehog, its spring-loaded axes firing rapidly but unable to cause damage. It escaped one flip, and manoeuvred around the slower Kronic the Wedgehog, but was ultimately caught and flipped over by the newcomer. Unable to self-right, the House Robots closed in for the kill. Dead Metal put Darke Destroyer 2 on the floor flipper, which only flung it a short distance. Sir Killalot grabbed hold of the veteran, almost slicing through its frame, and dropped it into the pit. Results |} |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 3 *Losses: 2 Series Record Darke destroyer team.JPG|Darke Destroyer with the team in Series 3 darke destroyer underbelly message.png|The message underneath Darke Destroyer 2 DD2TeamS4.jpg|The team in Series 4 Trivia *Darke Destroyer 2 was the second robot, after Pitbull, to have "PTO" (Please Turn Over) written on the underside of the robot. This was likely following its defeat by flipping in The Third Wars. *In both series that Darke Destroyer competed in, it was misspelt as "Dark Destroyer" in the list of all the robots that competed in the series. *Darke Destroyer 2 was one of only two returning heat finalists, along with Inverterbrat, not to be seeded in The Fourth Wars. Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots from Hampshire Category:Robots with alternate versions Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Robots with Spikes Category:Robots with Lawnmower Blades Category:Robots with Unique weapons Category:Robots to appear in Battle Cards Pack 1 Category:UK Heat Finalists Category:Robots which debuted in Series 3 Category:Robots which outlasted two others in a 3-way melee Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 5 Category:Robots with cameo appearences in Nickelodeon Robot Wars Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Extreme Warriors Season 1 Category:Robots named after their team members